Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Cut to “Neutral” at CIBC

CIBC lowered shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) from a sector outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on BMO. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com raised Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

NYSE BMO opened at $89.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $64.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $98.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $76.98 and a 52-week high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. The business’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be issued a $1.1094 dividend. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 708,767 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,786,000 after buying an additional 40,135 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 194,218 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,855,000 after acquiring an additional 14,351 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,913,716 shares of the bank’s stock worth $185,694,000 after purchasing an additional 64,799 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 58.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,618 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Finally, Korea Investment CORP boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 478,191 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,399,000 after purchasing an additional 12,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

About Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. It operates through Canadian P&C, U.S P&C, BMO Wealth Management, and BMO Capital Markets segments. The company’s personal banking products and services include deposits, mortgages, home lending, consumer credit, small business lending, credit cards, cash management, financial and investment advice, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services comprise various of financing options and treasury and payment solutions, as well as risk management products.